Travelers across the United States endured one of the most disruptive air travel days since the pandemic on Sunday, January 25, as a powerful winter system crippled major airports from New York to Boston, Washington and Chicago.

New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport alone logged an extraordinary 956 flight cancellations, effectively paralyzing operations and leaving thousands of passengers stranded in terminals or scrambling to rebook as the storm’s impacts rippled through the national aviation network.

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New York Aviation Hubs Brought to a Standstill

New York City’s three major airports emerged as the epicenter of the storm’s aviation chaos. At John F. Kennedy International, flight-tracking data showed nearly three quarters of services scrapped on Sunday, with 956 flights canceled as airlines pulled schedules rather than risk operating in deteriorating conditions of heavy snow, high winds and low visibility. The normally relentless churn of international and domestic departures slowed to a crawl, with departure boards dominated by red cancellation notices.

LaGuardia Airport in Queens faced an even more dramatic shutdown. By Sunday afternoon, more than nine out of ten flights there had been canceled, and airport authorities temporarily halted all operations for several hours at the height of the storm. Passengers reported long lines at service counters and packed seating areas as they waited for updates that often brought news of further delays or cancellations rather than relief.

Across the Hudson River, Newark Liberty International was similarly hard hit. A large majority of its Sunday flights were wiped from the schedule as snow bands pivoted over the New York metropolitan area. For travelers, that meant that contingency plans relying on alternate New York airports proved largely futile, with the whole regional air system simultaneously overwhelmed by weather and operational constraints.

Boston, Washington and Chicago Added to the Turmoil

As the storm marched up the East Coast into New England, Boston Logan International Airport joined the list of severely affected hubs. Airlines preemptively slashed services, canceling hundreds of flights as forecasts called for up to one to two feet of snow in parts of the region. Plows and deicing crews worked continuously on taxiways and runways, but the intensity and persistence of the snowfall made sustained operations difficult and forced carriers to significantly reduce schedules.

Farther south, the Washington area’s airports saw some of the most sweeping cancellations in the country. Ronald Reagan Washington National announced that all departing flights for the day had been canceled, amounting to more than 400 services, while Washington Dulles also experienced widespread disruption. The capital region’s air travel effectively went offline, cutting a vital corridor for domestic connections and contributing to the cascading effects felt by travelers thousands of miles away.

In the Midwest, Chicago’s O’Hare International and Midway airports contended with their own wave of snow and ice as the storm’s broad circulation swept across the Great Lakes region. While not every airport in the central United States was as acutely affected as those in the Northeast, delays and cancellations in Chicago further choked the flow of aircraft and crews needed to stabilize schedules nationwide. For passengers in cities less directly impacted by the weather, the knock-on effects were nonetheless very real as crews and aircraft failed to arrive from storm-battered hubs.

National Cancellation Totals Approach Historic Levels

By late Sunday, the scale of the disruption had become clear. Flight-tracking services reported more than 10,000 flights canceled across the United States for the day, with some tallies edging higher as evening operations were further curtailed. Aviation analytics firms noted that Sunday’s cancellations represented the largest single-day hit to US air travel since the height of the Covid era, underscoring how vulnerable the system remains to large-scale weather events.

The disruption extended beyond a single day. Since Friday, when the storm system first began sweeping out of the Rockies and across the southern United States before curving northeast, more than 16,000 US flights were canceled over the multi-day event. With hundreds of aircraft and crews out of position by Monday morning, airlines cautioned that recovery would take several days, even if conditions improved more quickly on the ground.

For many carriers, Sunday was a test of both resilience and customer management. Data from flight trackers showed American Airlines canceling nearly half its scheduled operations for the day, while Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and JetBlue also scrapped large portions of their networks. Smaller regional operators, heavily dependent on the major hubs now blanketed in snow, were equally constrained.

Travelers Stranded and Scrambling for Alternatives

Inside airports, the statistics translated into very human scenes of fatigue and frustration. Lines at airline service counters and self-service kiosks stretched down concourses as travelers tried to secure the dwindling supply of seats on remaining flights or rebook for later in the week. Families returning from school holidays, business travelers facing missed meetings and international visitors trying to make connections all jostled for attention from overburdened staff.

With hotel rooms near major hubs quickly filling and road conditions deteriorating around many airports, some passengers opted to spend the night in terminal buildings rather than risk long drives in heavy snow and ice. Others sought out rental cars only to discover inventories depleted, especially at airports like New York’s JFK and LaGuardia, Boston Logan and Washington National, where local residents and visitors alike tried to shift their travel plans from sky to highway.

For travelers whose trips were not strictly time-sensitive, airlines encouraged voluntary rebooking before departure airports formally shut down operations. Many carriers issued broad winter weather waivers, allowing passengers to change dates without standard fees. Yet with limited remaining capacity and swaths of the network affected, rebooked flights were often several days out, effectively stranding people far from home or delaying long-anticipated vacations.

Airlines Struggle With Network-Wide Shock

Aviation experts noted that the impact of the storm went far beyond the visible snow piles on runways. Modern airline networks operate on finely tuned schedules in which aircraft and crews cycle through multiple cities per day. Widespread cancellations at key hubs like New York, Boston, Washington and Chicago meant that aircraft and staff ended the day in the wrong places, with ripple effects extending to airports experiencing clear skies but short on operational resources.

Repositioning aircraft and flight crews is likely to dominate airline efforts over the next several days. Industry analysts warned that even travelers booked on early week flights from unaffected regions could encounter last-minute schedule changes as airlines shuffle planes and pilots back into position. Recovery timelines will depend on how quickly ground operations can resume at major Northeastern airports and whether subsequent weather systems complicate the clean-up.

Airlines also face the challenge of accommodating not just passengers whose flights were canceled on Sunday, but a backlog that will persist for days. Once runways are clear, load factors are expected to be extremely high as rebooked travelers are layered on top of existing bookings. Where capacity remains constrained, some travelers may find that refunds or alternative modes of transport are more realistic options than waiting for available seats.

Storm Conditions Stretch from the Rockies to New England

The aviation disruption reflects the enormous geographic reach and severity of the winter storm, which meteorologists identified as one of the most impactful systems of the season. The National Weather Service reported that nearly 180 million people were under some form of winter weather alert over the weekend, with the storm’s influence stretching from the southern Rockies through the Midwest and into the densely populated Northeast corridor.

After delivering snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of Texas, the lower Mississippi Valley and the Southeast, the system turned its full force on the Mid Atlantic and New England. Forecasts called for one to two feet of snow in swaths from Washington to New York and Boston, accompanied by gusty winds, dangerous wind chills and localized power outages. Those conditions made not only flying hazardous but also complicated airport access on surrounding roadways and rail links.

Beyond flight cancellations, the storm has been blamed for widespread power outages and at least several weather-related fatalities. Authorities in numerous states declared emergencies, urging residents to avoid nonessential travel and to prepare for potentially extended disruptions to transport and services. For travelers who had already set out, those warnings often came too late to avoid becoming entangled in the aviation snarl.

What Travelers Can Expect in the Days Ahead

Looking ahead to Monday and Tuesday, airlines and airport authorities are cautioning that operations will resume gradually, not all at once. Even as plows and deicing teams work around the clock to clear runways and gate areas, slot restrictions, crew rest requirements and ongoing weather challenges will limit how quickly full schedules can be restored. Travelers with itineraries through New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Atlanta and Dallas are being urged to check their flight status frequently and consider options to delay or reroute travel.

Industry analysts say recovery from such a widespread event typically takes several days at minimum, particularly when it coincides with busy travel periods and affects multiple major hubs simultaneously. Passengers whose trips are flexible may find it easier to accept cash refunds where offered and rebook once operations stabilize. Others will likely face long waits on customer service phone lines and digital channels as carriers work through an unprecedented volume of rebooking requests.

For those already en route, experts recommend a layered strategy: join physical queues at the airport, simultaneously use airline apps and websites, and, where possible, contact carriers through multiple channels including chat services. Some travelers may also have luck exploring nearby alternate airports that are recovering more quickly, though the breadth of the current disruption limits that option more than in typical winter storms.

Lessons for Future Winter Travel

While winter storms are a recurring feature of US aviation, the severity of this weekend’s disruption is likely to reignite discussions around airline preparedness, infrastructure resilience and traveler expectations. The scale of the cancellations highlights how exposed the system remains to major weather events, particularly when they strike at the intersection of multiple high-traffic hubs along the East Coast.

Travel planners and frequent flyers may respond by building greater flexibility into winter itineraries, allowing more buffer time for connections and critical events, or opting for non-stop routes over multi-leg journeys that depend on tightly timed transfers. Some may choose rail or road options for shorter regional trips during peak storm months to reduce dependence on vulnerable hubs.

For now, however, the focus is squarely on restoring a semblance of normalcy. As plows continue to carve paths through snow-covered runways in New York, Boston, Washington and Chicago, thousands of travelers remain in limbo, waiting to learn when they will finally be able to take off. The storm has reminded the industry and passengers alike that, even in an era of sophisticated forecasting and advanced aircraft technology, the elements can still bring one of the world’s most complex transportation systems to a sudden halt.